Deep thoughts: Long ball could carry Ravens to win

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith prepares to catch a pass as he warms up during an NFL Super Bowl XLVII football practice on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

NEW ORLEANS >>Fear the dreadlocks, San Francisco.

Torrey
Smith just might be the difference in a Super Bowl that will hinge on
the 49ers' ability to prevent the Baltimore Ravens from scoring with the
long ball.

You might remember Smith from that playoff game in
Denver on Jan. 12. Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey sure does. Bailey, a
12-time Pro Bowl star, watched the dreadlocks flapping from the back of
Smith's helmet as he chased the speedy wide receiver into the end zone
on touchdown catches of 59 and 32 yards.

Oh, and let's not forget
that Baltimore forced overtime in that game on a 70-yard touchdown pass
from Joe Flacco to Jacoby Jones with 31 seconds left.

The Ravens
have 17 pass completions of at least 40 yards this season, six of them
involving Smith. Sometimes, Smith runs deep just to free up wideout
Anquan Boldin or tight end Dennis Pitta or running back Ray Rice
underneath, leaving Flacco a variety of viable targets.

"It all
depends," said Smith, the speedy receiver from Maryland. "It's not like
they say, 'Hey Torrey, just run straight down the field' all the time.
Some of it is scheme-wise to open other guys up. Against certain
coverages, I have certain responsibilities. We do attack vertically.
That's a strength of ours, and I'm one of the guys that they definitely
use to do that."

Combine all that with a San Francisco defense
that gave up 396 yards passing to Atlanta's Matt Ryan in the NFC title
game, and it could add up to a very long night for the 49ers.

"Joe
Flacco, he's playing excellent football right now," former 49ers star
receiver Jerry Rice said. "You've got Torrey Smith and also Anquan
Boldin on the outside, and passes over 18 yards. They targeted Torrey
Smith 109 times. So they're not afraid to throw the ball deep. The
secondary of the San Francisco 49ers, they have had problems with the
deep ball, so they can't let these guys run free."

The 49ers know
this. Whether they can prevent Smith & Co. from breaking loose is
another story. Rice is also a threat — he caught 61 passes for 478 yards
during the regular season.

"I think No. 1, you've got one
(receiver) that's got track speed that will take the top off your
defense, so he's going to draw some attention," San Francisco cornerback
Carlos Rogers said. "Anquan is a very physical guy. He doesn't go deep
as much as Torrey, but he's got the ability to. He's just got that
connection, strong arm guy, physical guy, so it's going to be a
challenge with him, too.

"We're challenged at every position. The
tight end in the red zone, he's got a connection, too. Ray Rice out of
the backfield, people don't look at that, but when you break down film,
he continues to make linebackers look silly and break yards. ... So
everybody on our side of the ball has their hands full with those guys."

On
the other side of the ball, the Ravens' defense will be poised to hitch
their emotions to middle linebacker Ray Lewis for the final stage of
his last ride into retirement. The 37-year-old announced before
Baltimore's first playoff game that he would quit when the Ravens ended
their run, and since that time they've been played their best football
of the year.

So has Lewis. He has a team-high 44 tackles during the playoffs after missing the previous 10 games with a torn right triceps.

"They're
going to be up," San Francisco running back Frank Gore said. "Ray Lewis
means a lot to that organization. He's been playing the game for a long
time, he's probably the best at his position and guys love him."

Sure,
the Ravens would love to win it for Lewis. But only one player on the
roster owns a Super Bowl ring (Lewis), and the rest of the players are
in it for themselves.

"There's no way in the world that you can
imagine Torrey blocking better down the field because Ray is quitting,"
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said. "There's no way in the world that
(fullback) Vonta Leach is going to give that much more, knocking that
linebacker in the hole. I believe if Ray was saying he was going to play
another year, these guys would give us the same thing."

"The
spirit of the team is something special," he said. "Everybody works
hard around the league. The 49ers work hard. But the spirit of this team
is different."

After thumping Indianapolis at home and outlasting
the top-seeded Broncos in double overtime, Baltimore disposed of host
New England. Flacco, in succession, outplayed Andrew Luck, Peyton
Manning and Tom Brady. Now he goes up against second-year quarterback
Colin Kaepernick, who is fleet of foot but short on experience.

Unless
Kaepernick runs wild or connects repeatedly with Randy Moss, the
self-proclaimed "greatest receiver ever to play this game," then big
brother John Harbaugh will be the one smiling when shaking hands with
little brother Jim, San Francisco's coach, as purple and black confetti
falls from the roof of the Superdome.

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